If no possible legal or liability problems are identified, the phrase “In God We Trust” will be placed on the Anderson County Courthouse in coming months.

by Donna Smith

If no possible legal or liability problems are identified, the phrase “In God We Trust” will be placed on the Anderson County Courthouse in coming months.

By a 12-4 vote Tuesday night, the Anderson County Commission approved scores of local pastors’ request to put the motto on the Courthouse.

Private citizens, businesses and organizations will donate to pay for the materials, and Commissioners Tim Isbel and Zach Bates are even donating the services of their businesses to place it on the Courthouse.

The vote came at the end of an emotional and convoluted meeting with the standing-room-only crowd spilling out into the Courthouse’s third-floor hallway.

Two attempts to move the issue to the Operations Committee for study prior to voting on the matter failed before Tuesday’s final vote to allow the motto to be placed on the Courthouse.

“I can’t believe we’re even talking about it,” said Commissioner Steve Emert. “I think our country has got in a terrible place in that people are even afraid to speak of the Lord.”

Conversely, Commissioner Harry “Whitey” Hitchcock argued, “There are people in the county who have to come to the Courthouse and they equate ‘In God We Trust’ as a Christian thing.

“Why do you want to put it on the Courthouse?”

First-term Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said she supported the measure, even though it wasn’t her idea. She said the request had been brought to her and pastors of 46 churches were supporting it — with at least 16 additional pastors having later told Clinton Baptist Association’s director of missions Tom Byrge that they also support it.

Frank said she’d received a few letters and emails about the issue since it was published in the media, most of them in favor. She read letters in support from Pastor Luke Kidwell and from Clinton Police Chief Rick Scarbrough.

Commissioner Hitchcock said the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge had heard a presentation on “the separation of church and state” during a Lunch With The League event held in Oak Ridge earlier Tuesday.

An Oak Ridge resident, Hitchcock said the 50-plus people there had asked him how they could get their input in before Commission’s decision and he’d told them to go to the county’s next Operations Committee — thinking the issue would be referred to committee before a full County Commission vote.

He asked that the issue be referred to Operations Committee to “give his constituents a chance,” and his motion was voted down by a 7-9 vote.

Commissioner Robert McKamey then made the motion to allow the words to be placed on the Courthouse, and then send the matter to the Operations Committee for the committee and County Law Director Jay Yeager to research any legal or liability issues, as well as specifics related to the project such as design and size.

The Operations Committee will meet 6 p.m. March 11 in the Courthouse, followed by another County Commission meeting on March 18.

Following McKamey’s motion, citizens were allowed to speak — with the majority of them speaking in favor of placing the motto on the Courthouse.

“I do not believe ‘In God We Trust’ is a violation of the Constitution,” Byrge said.

A retired Air Force veteran with a son who is now in military special operations, he pointed out when the military are sworn in they take an oath that includes the words, “So help me God.”

“We believe (the phrase) speaks to who we are,” said Pastor Mike Thompson of Second Baptist Church in Clinton. And the minister thanked the Commission for considering it.

Commissioner Hitchcock pointed out there’s no mention of God in the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. He said the League speaker pointed out you cannot have freedom “of” religion without having freedom “from” religion.

In response to his question about “why” put the words on the Courthouse, Jerry Daughterty of Oliver Springs stated that “if it wasn’t for the God I trust, I wouldn’t be here today.”

A self-professed alcoholic who has been sober 31 years, Daugherty said the way he was before … he would have been thrown out of the Courthouse before he’d had a chance to speak.

“If people don’t want to look at that (the words), they don’t have to look up,” he said.

Oak Ridge City Council member Anne Garcia Garland, who noted she is an officer in her church, said that “church belongs to God and God is the ruler of our souls. Government is … among men.”

She called attention to the Holy Bible’s passages that tell of Jesus denying Satan’s offer of being given the power to rule over all the world’s kingdoms, but Jesus refused the temptation and chose to be about his Father’s business.

Garcia Garland also mentioned the Bible passage that states: “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.”

Kelly Bates of Lake City called attention to a verse in the national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner” — “And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust!’”

“God cannot be separated from my life,” said Bates, the mother of 19 children. She said the role of God in society and what was written by the nation’s founders about God can be explored at the website wallbuilders.com.

Her husband, Gil Bates, said by putting the words on the outside of the Courthouse, people will read it and decide “if you’re for this — this is the place to live.” The Bates are parents of Commissioner Zach Bates and their lives have been profiled in a reality television series on The Learning Channel (TLC).

“I am opposed to this,” Oak Ridger Ruth Young said. “I see it as an intrusion into government.” She said the county mayor should have also read letters she received in opposition.

Commissioner Steve Mead of Oak Ridge said the reference to God isn’t specific to Christianity. He said he would oppose it if it was being paid for with taxpayer money or if a symbol specific to one religion was being used.

The motion to place it on the Courthouse was approved by a vote of 12-4 with Commissioners Hitchcock, Jerry Creasey, Robin Biloski and Myron Iwanski voting against it. All four represent the city of Oak Ridge.

Commissioners Mead and John Shuey, who are also both of Oak Ridge, voted in favor; however, Shuey offered some words to the audience prior to his vote: “I don’t like the way this happened. This isn’t best government.”

He said the matter could have been delayed 30 days without harm.

“Christians don’t have to be afraid of anybody — where’s your faith? As Christians we can afford to be charitable,” he said.

“I am trusting in God, (but) I’m not sure the government I’m watching here tonight is the government I like.”

Anderson County Commission currently has 16 members and six of those are from Oak Ridge. Collectively, the Oak Ridge commissioners voted 4-2 against the “In God We Trust” measure.